Ashes and Steam
by permanentlei
Summary: Collections of drabbles that I wrote for Zutara Month 2014.
1. Day 1: Hidden

They were good at keeping their feelings hidden.

She would call Aang 'sweetie' and he would lead Mai around with a hand on her back and neither of them would so much as glance at the other. They greet each other with smiles and hugs and talk about what had happened since the last time they had seen each other. They don't mention the aches of their hearts or bring back memories of bright lights and burning skin and words whispered that shouldn't have been. They were friends, nothing more. They weren't allowed to be.

Feelings had be to hidden.

* * *

**Notes**:

It's such an overused plotline but with a prompt like Hidden how could I not?


	2. Day 2: Sleep

She sleeps arms out, legs tangled in sheets and hair spread over the pillow. She moves and kicks and mumbles.

He sleeps stomach down, one hand under the pillow, the other tensed by his face. He is still and quiet and only the rise and fall of his chest confirms life.

Together he provides her an anchor, wrapping his hands around her body and keeping her still. She gives him life, replacing the sheets with his legs and allowing his body to relax.

He rises with the sun and she with the moon but they find sleep – momentary peace – together.


	3. Day 3: Confession

_Dear Aang,_

_ I love you, __but I love Zuko more__._

_Dear Sokka,_

_ You asked me if I was sure about Aang – __I don't think I was._

_Dear Zuko,_

_ I miss you_

_ I shouldn't have married Aang_

_ Sometimes I look at Bumi and wonder what he would look like_ _with_ _golden eyes._

Katara drew two straight, hard lines through the letters and folded them each, pressing the crease hard enough to turn the tips of her fingers white. In one swift motion she sweeped them from the table and into the fire.

The pops and cracks seemed to deepen her shame.


	4. Day 4: Garden

He is the one who rises with the sun and spends quiet mornings sitting in the gardens feeding crumbs to the turtleducks in the pond. She sees the weight of the memories on his shoulders and offers comfort with a hand placed on the small of his back.

He repays her with watchful eyes from their room when she feels the incessant tug of her element under the full moon. She spins, twirls, and slices the air and he grabs her wrists when he thinks she'd done enough.

During both moments the garden glows under the light of their elements.


	5. Day 5: Sadness

He isn't really sad. No that's not it. There's just this constant pressure that builds in his chest when he thinks of her. His chest contracts and refuses to expand and he doesn't think he can breathe. He might as well be drowning in one of her icy holds. He isn't sad; the weight is just impossible.

She isn't sad. She has a great life. Loving husband. Great family. Terrific friends. That doesn't mean she's bursting at the seams with happiness. She wishes for more. Passion. Fire. - _Golden eyes ablaze with both -_ She isn't sad. She isn't joyful. Merely content.


	6. Day 6: Quiet

It's quiet and he counts her fingers while she sleeps to make sure that they're all there.

It's quiet and she watches him sit by the pond and feed the turtleducks under the early morning sun.

It's quiet and she traces shapes on his bare chest with her fingertips as they lay together legs tangled.

It's quiet and he tries to braid her hair, tugging at thick strands and watching the curls bounce back into place.

It's quiet and they sit, sometimes side by side, sometimes back to back, and not say a word, their thoughts saying more than enough.


	7. Day 7: Melt

When he touches her she melts. Not emotionally but physically. Her skin burns and her organs liquify and she's a puddle. But still she burns.

His fingers burn deep imprints onto her skin, her waist, her face. He's fire and she's ice and logic dictates that she melts when they come into contact.

She just never anticipated she'd enjoy the melting. The slow sweet burn of his touch and the way she unravels under it. His hot breath fanning across her reddening skin and ghosting her cheek.

It's a dangerous prospect. She's melting and she can't bring herself to care.


	8. Day 8: Storm

It was raining when Katara attacked Yon Rah but the storm raging inside of her was much worse. He could see it.

Thundering emotions crashing together, battling for dominance with booms and cracks that shook her to her core.

She may have managed to stop the physical storm with her bending but emotions were harder to bring under her control, especially considering the circumstances, and she was staring at the old man so fiercely. Fierce and cold. Zuko was sure that the internal storm had won.

He didn't want to admit how he was relieved when she dropped the attack.


	9. Day 9: Fight

They get angry.

He pushes and she pulls and they both pull and push and push and pull. But just like a rubber band when pulled too far and let go they snap back together. And when they do it is explosive.

Their last fight left his uncle's tea garden a smoking mess and sent them both to the healer and they never seem to learn because now she clenches her fingers and the water in the pond sloshes violently and he breathes so hard smoke curls from his nose.

Their fights may be explosive, but so is their love.


	10. Day 10: Legend

"The people in the city are raving about some spirit roaming around dealing with criminals."

Katara watched as Zuko ranted. His tirade, pacing - hands clasped behind his back, was reflected in the mirror as she brushed the knots from her hair.

"They say she's the Painted Lady."

"I met the Painted Lady once. In a fishing village while traveling with Aang."

Zuko looked unamused.

"The Painted Lady is not in my city."

"She could be." Katara paused, squinted at the mirror, and then rubbed at a red mark on her cheek. "Or it could be someone keeping her legend alive."


	11. Day 11: Touch

**NOTES: **au where Katara is made of water, Zuko is made of fire and love transpires

* * *

They started out curious. She dared to peer out of the water and he stepped closer than any other of his kind would dare.

They became friends next. She would stretch out on the grassy bank, toes in the water, and he would sit next to her burning a black patch in the grass.

They ended up lovers. She would risk holding his hand and watching her body turn to steam and he would grasp it tightly and watch his flames extinguish.

It meant a lot more when you were willing to risk your life just to touch the other.


	12. Day 12: Frozen

**NOTES: **Tie in with Day 7: Melt.

* * *

If Katara melts when he touches her then when she touches him a static cold spreads across his skin that sinks its way into his bones. His skin becomes a frozen plain, chills spreading to every part of him like the cracks that run across ice flats.

She freezes him and instead of using that power to break him, shatter him into pieces under her hands, she handles him with care, as if she doesn't know that she has a power to break him that no one else can boast. That she has a hand in everything that he does.


	13. Day 13: Candles

They say the candle burns bright but when Katara waits for Zuko to return from late night meetings the candle burns low, so low that she can barely see a few feet ahead. Barely. She has to light another one, and another one, and tries to keep them going until he returns.

A stupid tradition.

Sometimes he doesn't reach back in time and Katara wakes groggily in the morning to find a blown out candle stub and a still warm imprint in the mattress. He's always gone before she wakes up.

Katara closes back her eyes and massages her temples.


	14. Day 14: Dynamic

**NOTES: **Tie in with Day 10: Legend.

* * *

The Painted Lady meets the Blue Spirit after she freezes him in his tracks, pretending to be a burglar. Katara feels fear consume her heart and Zuko feels confident, cocky. He's ready to finally stop this masked vigilante.

They fight until dawn, evenly matched, synced together even if Zuko doesn't realize that it's her. Katara's knows better, she's seen the mask before.

He pulls out first, realizing the time. She gives him a head start and still arrives at the palace before him. He's bruised and tries to hide it and she thanks the spirits for her power to heal.


	15. Day 15: Treasure

**NOTES: **au where Katara is a pirate and the iconic words are said in reverse

* * *

"I'll save you from the pirates."

Her smile was feral and her hair fell dangerously into her eyes, failing to hide the mischievous glint they held. Zuko eyed her sword and state of dress.

"You're a pirate."

"All the more to trust me. Who's better to protect you from pirates than one herself?"

Zuko had been running from pirates for over a year and now here was one, in all her glory, trapping him against the bar wall and offering him immunity from his crimes.

"Why?"

Her smile became more of a smirk.

"You're quite the treasure among us pirates."


	16. Day 16: Switch

**NOTES: **the almost mandatory body swap fic

* * *

"Is your idea of some sort of twisted joke?"

Zuko dismisses the very wrong concept of his voice, his body, addressing him, instead staring down at the darker, very feminine hands he now possessed.

"Are you even listening?"

"Hey!"

It was the Avatar.

Katara froze, her shock registering wrongly on his face. Zuko couldn't move.

"What's with all the ruckus?"

He snapped out it first,.

"Well Ka-_Zuko_ and I were just talking things over." His voice was high and feminine and hair caught in his mouth as he spoke. He twisted Katara's face into a reassuring smile.

"That's great!"


	17. Day 17: Vague

**NOTES: **Who needs a straight answer?

* * *

"What is it with you and Sparky?"

"Nothing really. There's just a lot going on."

.

.

.

"Is something up between you and my sister?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

.

.

.

They tried to make their answers to these types of questions vague because they weren't really ready to answer them. Even when they were the answers were vaguer still.

"Grand-grand? Did anything ever _happen _between you and Firelord Zuko?"

Katara chuckled and bent to Jinora's level. She placed a hand on her shoulder and answered.

"Firelord Zuko and I were the greatest of friends. We treasured each other deeply."

Jinora left pouting, dissatisfied.


	18. Day 18: Pieces

Thanks to his father and Azula Zuko was missing many pieces of himself.

His trouble lay in communication, emotional connection and an inability to handle certain situations.

Then one summer Aang ran off -_disappeared_- on some spiritually enlightening journey with Guru Pathik and Katara showed up at his doorstep on a rainy day, completely dry.

That summer she found the pieces of himself that he was missing and meticulously glued them back together, puttying every crack.

When Aang reappeared looking older, worn and wiser they parted ways.

Zuko felt something akin to fire burn in his chest at her loss.


	19. Day 19: Shiver

"I'm cold, make me warm."

Giving him no time to react she throws herself onto his lap.

"Weren't you raised here?" he asks, smile light, amused,

She puffs out her cheeks, in that absolutely cute way he loves and wishes she would do more often when she was upset.

"Doesn't mean I can't feel cold."

A shiver runs down her spine and despite his protests he places both hands on her back and slowly brings forth his element. Her cheeks become warm and another shiver runs through, this one of pleasure, and Zuko loves her even more in these moments.


End file.
